Jackson Place: A novel

by John H. Taylor

On June 17, 1972, a break-in at the Watergate office complex in Washington, DC changed history forever-with an attempted cover-up that would ignite one of the biggest political scandals of all time.

Now, facing the certainty of impeachment, Richard Nixon is poised to become the first president to resign. But what if someone could convince him to change his mind?

If anyone can do it, it's Emily Weissman-a beautiful young White House staffer, bursting with bright ideas. She convinces Nixon to tell Congress that he is temporarily incapacitated. By law, Gerald Ford steps in to take his place.

Nixon's new home is Jackson Place, a townhouse across the street from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Seemingly in internal exile, he'll secretly grasp for influence over events while plotting his final comeback.

Genres: Fiction

312 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 2014

Reviews

[Drtaxsacto · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those what if books. What IF Nixon had decided to fight the impeachment and used the 25th Amendment to put an interim into the Presidency then exercised some real strategies to a) win the war in Vietnam and b) divert official Washington from its preoccupation(s).

Taylor weaves a mix of real events and characters with some artful inventions. His characters are well drawn and their interplay is woven well. This is fiction after all - but for a lot of the book I had to go back and refresh my memory about certain events.

[Tim Fountain · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're old enough to remember the Nixon years, you'll feel some strange nostalgia as you reenter the lives of the real characters in this creative and dramatic excursion into what might have been. If you're younger, it is a chance to get past the shorthand of Viet Nam and Watergate and engage the complexities of recent history.

From the powerfully understated drama of the opening fictional twist, to tying up the loose ends with folks central to the story, the human and historical dimensions of a reimagined Nixon presidency make this book an engrossing page turner.

It is hard to describe too much without getting into spoilers, but the might-have-beens are plausible. Conservatives might well enjoy Taylor's ideas of what could have happened globally, while progressives will like the recasting of domestic trends.

All of the characters are well developed with virtues and flaws. There are no stick figures, which is so refreshing given today's polarized, closed minded politics.

Great story telling by someone who knew the principal characters personally.